


Truth Hurts

by Lirillith



Category: Tiger & Bunny
Genre: Angst, Kink Meme, M/M, Other, Semi-Public Sex, Unrequited Love, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-30
Updated: 2012-09-30
Packaged: 2017-11-15 07:55:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/524944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lirillith/pseuds/Lirillith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>That should be her, there, her hand in Tiger's hair, pressed up against him, head thrown back while he was doing something sexy to her neck.</i>
</p>
<p>Karina, prepared to confess her feelings to Kotetsu, ends up watching him and Barnaby together instead, and fantasizes that she's in Barnaby's place.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Truth Hurts

**Author's Note:**

> Written for an anon meme prompt. I hope you like your smutty voyeurism PWPs drenched in angst?

The hundred ways to win a single father's heart were really more like a dozen, repeated in different ways, or sometimes just contradicting each other; you needed to be sure to get along with his kids, but also accept they might resent you, and give them space. You couldn't hope to replace his kids or anything like that. You definitely shouldn't see them as a nuisance. You needed to follow his lead regarding his ex, and accept they'd always be linked by their kids -- there was really nothing much in there about widowers. You should try to be spontaneous and carefree, make him feel like a young single guy again; but also be steady, mature and responsible so he'd see you as a potential stepmother to his children. And then some sex tips, probably just to fill up space. It was usless.

Karina didn't need it. She didn't want to win the heart of just any random single dad; she wanted Kotetsu T. Kaburagi. And she might not get him. She understood that. He was twice her age, and she was just barely out of high school, and she was pretty sure he'd bring all that up. She didn't think he'd ever consider her as someone to date unless she made him think of her that way; if he'd ever noticed her looks, it was probably in the casual, "pretty nice-looking" way she'd noticed Sky High or Origami. In other words, she had to tell him how she felt about him to plant the whole idea in his head, ask him not to just dismiss the idea out of hand, and then run away and wish for death for a while until she had no choice but to see him again, and then see how he reacted to her. Easy.

It might be a little easier if she had a better, more romantic spot to interact with him than the training center, but you made do with what you had. Besides, it seemed a little silly to try to impress him. He'd seen her drenched in sweat at the gym, and dressed up as Blue Rose, and looking perfect for the Hero TV banquets, and everything else. Looking back on her first season, she cringed at the way she'd treated him back then. If he was going to have any kind of feelings for her, it wasn't going to be some kind of smitten, love-at-first-sight thing -- he'd fall for her the way she had for him, flaws and all. So she might as well collar him at the training center, and pry Barnaby away from him, and tell him how she felt while they could both hear the weights clanging in the background.

* * *

The day she decided to got through with it, she got there early. Ever since they'd gone to the second league, Tiger and Barnaby were usually among the first in the gym -- actually, usually Barnaby was first and Tiger and joined him later, but if she was in place early, maybe she could explain to Barnaby she wanted to talk to Tiger privately, and get the teasing part out of the way, and then she could just kind of intercept Tiger when he came in. And then coat the floor in ice or something to trip up Barnaby if he tried to follow them, she thought. All of this planning was ridiculous. But she couldn't help it. She was nervous and she couldn't think about anything else, and trying to think about what she'd actually say to Tiger, how he'd react, what he'd say, that was completely unbearable, so rehearsing silly arguments with Barnaby was the only solution. 

She wasn't quite early enough. When she walked into the gym, she heard the buzz of a treadmill, and footsteps; she ducked behind one of the partitions immediately, then peeked around it. Barnaby. Of course. Was Tiger here yet? She heard a door open somewhere, and hid behind the sparring dummy, but he wasn't coming from her side, or coming her way. She heard voices, indistinctly, and slipped out of her hiding space, feeling ridiculous. Neither of them looked her way as she got closer; when she was a couple of sections away, she ducked back behind one of the partitions again, to catch her breath and work up her nerve. Not that she was winded, but she was freaking out. 

Tiger stepped into view, and went over to the glass railing around the central area; he leaned against it, arms crossed, apparently looking at Barnaby. 

"Did you even put in five minutes?" Barnaby asked, voice raised over the sound of the treadmill. 

"I can do that later. I want to enjoy the view while I got the chance."

View? Of... Barnaby? She had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. Fire Emblem had been making all these comments about how close they were, especially lately, but she'd just assumed that was Fire Emblem being himself.

"As if you never see me," Barnaby said, and he sounded kind of affectionate, not snotty or snide. She heard the treadmill beep and die down. Barnaby walked into view too, and she shrank back into her corner as he walked up to Tiger, really close, too close, and then Tiger put his arms around him. This would be a really good time to burst out of hiding and then run away while they were too flustered to ask where the hell she'd come from, but she couldn't move; her legs felt like jelly. They were kissing, not the big theatrical kisses Fire Emblem liked to lay on the guys -- the only kind of guy-on-guy kissing she'd ever seen -- but the kind of tender kissing she'd always hoped she'd have with Tiger, someday. They stopped, foreheads pressed together. Tiger said something quiet -- dirty old man? was he talking about himself? -- and Barnaby actually laughed softly. 

"Not too dirty. You didn't even slip me any tongue."

"Well, y'know... we're in public and all..."

"No one's around."

At least they didn't know she was there. Oh God they didn't know she was there. What else were they going to do, since they thought no one was watching? She already felt like she was going to cry. Could she make her escape without freaking out in front of them? She slid down in the corner, curling up into a crouch. They were kissing in earnest now -- Tiger was grabbing Barnaby's ass, so if there weren't tongues involved it was just a matter of time. That should be her, there, her hand in Tiger's hair, pressed up against him, head thrown back while he was doing something sexy to her neck. She should be there, not in a fetal position on the floor of the gym, feeling simultaneously horny and sick to her stomach. She should be trying to take his shirt off while he didn't cooperate at all. Not that she'd have any reason to tell him to be careful when he took her glasses off, unless she started wearing some just for looks because apparently he liked blonds in glasses. That should be her trying to use one foot to help step out of her other shoe while still making out with Tiger. 

He'd run his hands under her shirt, stroking her nipples through the sports bra, and she'd be the one kind of gasping and breathing heavy, back arched. She'd peel her tee-shirt off (and bra, damn Barnaby anyway, he could get naked that much faster) and whisper something in his ear, and he'd groan "Oh God, Bunny" -- Blue Rose, he still never called her Karina even though she'd asked him to -- in a way that hit her right between the legs, and they'd... move out of her line of sight. She saw a shoe roll into view, so clearly they were getting undressed. She should be _glad_ she wasn't going to have to watch the man she was in love with have sex with another man. She shouldn't be inching forward to see if she could watch without being seen. 

They were both pretty much undressed by the time she got to where she could see. Tiger was still wearing his gym shorts, but Barnaby seemed to have stripped down really fast -- then again, most heroes got pretty good changing in a hurry -- and she couldn't see Barnaby's face. Which was fine. Easier to pretend she was just watching her Tiger-fantasy, not watching something that proved her fantasy was never ever ever going to happen. He'd been married, he had to like women _too,_ right? Barnaby was sitting on the edge of the leg-lift machine, and Tiger knelt down between his legs, pushed them a bit farther apart... it seemed really unfair she was seeing Barnaby's penis before Tiger's. 

He'd arrange her a little, and yeah, she'd probably grumble about it just like Barnaby was, and then she'd stop complaining when he put his mouth on her and found the right spot almost right away. She'd be breathing hard, moaning a little, grabbing at the edge of the platform-seat-thing. Too transfixed to think it was a bad idea, she slid a hand into her shorts, trying to find a pace that seemed to match his, but clearly Barnaby was way easier to please than she was because he kind of groaned Kotetsu's name just as she was getting into it. 

Kotetsu -- surely she'd be calling him that by the time they were having sex, right? And he'd call her Karina? -- sat back on his heels, wiping his mouth. "Why'd you stop me?"

"I want you to, um..." He trailed off. "I'd rather have intercourse." 

"That wasn't the word you used before..." Kotetsu got kind of an evil smile on his face. 

"Fine, forget it, just finish the blowjob."

"You have to say it out loud." God, he was sexy when he was being mildly cruel. 

Barnaby didn't seem any less embarrassed about saying it than she would have been. "...I want you to fuck me," she'd say, kind of in a rush, and he'd get up on his knees and kiss her hard, run his hands over her chest, her sides, her legs, and then he'd stand up and grab her hands, pull her up too. 

"This thing's too low," he'd say, and she'd turn around, bend over, hands on the edge of the machine. Kotetsu ran a hand down Barnaby's back, saying something she couldn't hear clearly. She loved Kotetsu's hands. Long and slim, just like his legs, the kind of hands that made her think of playing the piano, with such short nails he sometimes asked her to open his soda cans for him. He'd be running his hands over her, asking if she was okay, if she really wanted to do this here, and she'd tell him yes. Not for their first time, this wasn't, wouldn't be their first time, but yes, she wanted him like this. She wanted him to take hold of her hips and push into her, slowly, still stroking her back, and she'd be feeling _him,_ moving in and out of her. Not just her own fingers rubbing, trying to get back into it, trying to put two fingers inside herself to see if she liked that better. He'd be bending over her, kissing her back, reaching around in front of her to rub her clit, like that, his long fingers between her legs while he was thrusting into her. Then she finally tipped over the edge and felt it rolling through her, from the center of her out to her fingertips and toes as though she was stretched out, or bent over in front of Kotetsu, not crumpled up on the floor watching the person she wanted more than anything stroking his partner's cock. 

Watching two people who thought they had some privacy. 

She couldn't see clearly when Barnaby came, but Kotetsu's hand came back to hold his hips again, and then after a while his breathing kind of changed and so did his movements. So that must be it, then. Barnaby must have said something, because Kotetsu laughed, and then he pulled out, turned to do something, and nearly toppled over with a loud yelp. His gym shorts had gone from his knees to his ankles, but he'd never actually stepped out of them. Barnaby seemed to be grinning as he got up and helped steady him. "Smartass kid," Kotetsu grumbled, but he sounded so affectionate it made her chest ache. He'd sounded that way for a while, when he talked about Barnaby, but she hadn't realized it was _that_ kind of affection.

She watched Barnaby pull his shorts back on, his shirt, then toss Kotetsu's shirt to him. Kotetsu had vanished from sight -- sitting down, maybe. Barnaby went over there as well, and finally they were walking off, together, towards the men's locker room. Not past her. They'd probably shower, or something. Together. 

When she was sure they were gone, she stood up. Her legs were still shaky, her hands were shaking, and she still felt like she was about to throw up. Part of her just wanted to run into the women's locker room and bawl her eyes out in the shower, but she was mad, furious, at everything: at all the other heroes who'd known how she felt about Tiger, teased her about it, made fun of her for it; at anyone who'd known about Tiger and Barnaby and never bothered to tell her, like Fire Emblem; at Tiger, for being such a klutz and a loser and silly and clumsy and goofy and perfect, and apparently in love with Barnaby; at Barnaby for being his partner, being closer to his age, being the one who got to touch him. She adjusted her clothes, and then she turned around and hit the sparring dummy as hard as she could. It flashed red, though she didn't bother to read the rest, how many pounds of force it had been, just punched it again, and again, until she was pouring sweat and sobbing.


End file.
